newshour correspondent spencer michels sat down with brown in san francisco. hiseport is a co-production th our colleagues at kqed-san francisco, and begins with some background on the fiscal troubles and the budget fix. >> reporter: california's sorry financial state and cuts made to health and welfare programs have prompted nearly nonstop demonstrations at the state capital in recent times. those protests got going four years ago when california and its then governor republican arnold schwarzenegger faced a staggering budget deficit of $42 billion. the recession, built-in spending, a large population in need of state services like health and welfare, a limit on property taxes, plus republican legislators' refusal to raise taxes created a dilemma in the world's ninth largest economy. with budget cuts coming like clock work, the state's college and university systems declined in offerings and in reputation. schools suffered cutbacks in personnel and programs. services for the poor were trimmed by $15 billion since 2008. state workers were furloughed. then in 2